Seat tracks are used in a wide variety of mobile platforms to secure seats and various interior decorative panels, located in proximity to the seat track, in a secure position. Typically the external component (i.e., panel, structure or member adjacent the seat track) is secured to the seat track via a plurality of fasteners that extend through one or more holes in the seat track. The seat track itself is typically secured fixedly to a floor portion of the mobile platform and typically includes a plurality of seats that are fixedly secured to it (usually in a plurality of rows). In one specific application, a mop sill panel in a commercial aircraft is typically secured via a plurality of rivet style fasteners, or threaded fasteners, to a plurality of corresponding holes in a flange of the seat track. The mop sill panel is a decorative panel that is positioned near the floor in the cabin area of the aircraft, and along a wall portion of the cabin. The process of using rivet style fasteners or threaded fasteners to secure the mop sill panel, or any other component to the seat track, is time and labor intensive. Significant labor time and effort is required to secure numbers of rivet style or threaded fasteners that are typically used to secure the mop sill panel to a flange portion of the seat track. This adds to the cost associated with assembly of the aircraft.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide some means of quickly and easily attaching an external component, structure or panel, for example a mop sill panel in a commercial aircraft cabin interior, to a seat track mounted on a floor of the mobile platform, without the use of multiple threaded fasteners or rivet style fasteners. More preferably, it would be highly desirable to provide some component that can be used as an interface to quickly and easily attach a variety of independent panels, components or structural panels to a portion of a seat track, without the use of any external tools or fastening members, and without interfering with attachment of the seats to the seat track.